President Susan West Engelkemeyer, Ph.D.

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Presidential Op Eds

From time to time, I write higher education opinion pieces for various publications on topics affecting both Nichols and other colleges and universities. You’ll find a selection below.

The benefits for a president of trading places with a student (Inside Higher Ed)

For one day during the academic year, I don’t do my job.

The occasion — “President for a Day” — turns over my administrative responsibilities to an undergraduate who has won an essay competition to lead Nichols College. For my part, I walk a day in that student’s shoes.

Where have you gone, Don Draper? Our colleges turn their lonely eyes to you (The Boston Business Journal)

Getting a better grip on the women’s leadership gap (Telegram and Gazette)

I would have never guessed that when it comes to the presence of women in the highest leadership positions, Massachusetts would receive a failing grade. After all, the state enjoys a progressive reputation, and its many institutions of higher learning are famous for graduating as many successful women as men.

A better idea than free college? (The Washington Post)

As Sen. Bernie Sanders’s chants of “free college for all” have faded, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has taken up the modified mantra “free public college for some.” She has proposed free in-state tuition for students from families earning less than $85,000 a year….

Making the most of college (The Boston Globe)

The Class of ’17 we have all recently welcomed to campus will probably spend freshman year like generations before them: finding their way around, taking introductory courses, making new friends, and perhaps — courtesy of the college dining services — putting on the “Freshman 15.” But nowadays, colleges cannot afford to settle for that age-old rite of passage….

Women in leadership: Let’s start early, and often (The Boston Business Journal)

If you were to ask anyone about the state of women’s leadership at the highest levels of business, government, and education in Massachusetts, you’d probably hear the response, “Pretty good.” After all, Massachusetts is known for its outstanding educational institutions and massive talent base, to which women contribute greatly….

Millennials will do quite well, probably (Telegram and Gazette)

Teaching freshman to lead (University Business)

How can freshmen who may not even be able to find their way around campus during their first weeks in school learn to lead others? The question may sound like a new riddle of the Sphinx or the beginning of a joke. But the concept of 18-year-olds learning to lead should not be a riddle and is no joke….

Financial literacy matters (Telegram and Gazette)

If you look at the curriculum of most business schools, you will see that approximately half of the courses are dedicated to the liberal arts. Even at Nichols College, our business majors are required to take courses ranging from Expository Writing and Introduction to History to College Mathematics, Effective Speaking and Environmental Science….

Colleges at a tipping point (The Boston Globe)

The national average for federal and private loans for undergraduate students is $34,000. Over a 40-year career, a college graduate is likely to earn $800,000 more than someone with only a high school diploma, a return that pays the initial investment back more than 23 times….

Rating system the wrong way to go (Telegram and Gazette)

Last month, President Obama kicked off a campus speaking tour to discuss the unaffordability of a college education and to unveil his ideas for addressing this issue. He proposes to create a new college rating system that is based on measures of access; affordability; and student outcomes, including graduation rates, advanced degrees, and earnings after graduation….

Getting our new graduates employed (University Business)

Now that we have all waved our classes of 2012 on their way with pomp and circumstance—and hopefully with sunny graduation days—it’s only natural to turn our attention to the classes of ’13, ’14, and ’15. But to read the headlines of the past few months, there’s still plenty to worry about concerning the graduates who are just entering the workforce and for whom the forecast is considerably cloudy….